It is time Doberman breeders realise there is an issue with their breed. Doberman are facing extinction.

All Doberman lines around the world have DCM (Dilated Cardiomyopathy). People are watching 3 year old dogs die of it suddenly.

People are moving away from the breed and not wanting to own them because of their health issues.

And what are most breeders doing about it? Well, there are 3 types of Doberman Breeders in the Modern Era.

They sit back and claim DCM isn’t common and has just been hyped up. [x]

The ones that believe they can sort DCM out within the breed despite all lines having DCM and attack those that suggest otherwise because they are obsessed with breed purity. [x]

The ones who accept the Doberman’s issues, and are actively trying to help the Doberman despite the backlash, attacks and hatred via outcrossing. [✓]

Breeder groups 1 & 2 are the most common and the most dangerous. They are the ones that will kill this breed.

Breeder Group 3! They will be saving this breed, or even trying to recreate it, their way of combating the Issue is by outcrossing, there are several Doberman Outcross groups on Facebook, but even these groups have the people from Breeder Group 2 in them.

“The Finnish Dobermann Club asked if outcross should be considered to save the breed; Pezzano replied those who are not experts are not supposed to speak about that and they both said outcross is not an option.” Now, many won’t know who Pezzano is. He and Wiblishauser are the “Bosses” so to speak of IDC (International Doberman Club)

Now, this speech he did on the possibility of an Outcross is avalible.

I have been imming and arring over doing this for a long time. It’s a topic that is very close to my heart, but that can also make a lot of people angry, aggressive or spiral into a state of denial, now, if you don’t know what I mean by now – I mean the truth about American Pit Bull Terriers.

APBT are one of my favourite breeds of dog. They are banned in my country due to what is known as Misrepresentation. Now, many people will automatically think “OMG. No, it’s because of BSL!” but, if misrepresentation had not have happened, we would not have BSL, or, we would, but it wouldn’t be this bad.

Why would they? Because of misrepresentation. Any bully breed or mix of such dogs are claimed to be “Pit Bulls” because of the media and because bully breed’s look similar to each other. Now, all humans make mistakes, but this mistake has cause this breed, that is now deemed a type to be banned in many countries and to the extent that the government in our country are putting down Staffordshire Bull Terriers while calling them Pit Bulls.

Now, Pit Bull didn’t used to be a type and it still isn’t. That dog you got from the shelter that you call a Pibble on a daily basis? It’s a Bull Breed Mutt (BBM)… by calling it a “pibble” you are fueling BSL. The “End BSL Pit Bull Ambassadors” are making it worse too.

Unless you know the bloodlines your dog came from (Blue Nose is not a Bloodline, nor a type, nor a breed. It is the colour of a dogs nose) you do not have a Pit or a pit mix.

See how they vary in appearance? Just because your dog looks like these dogs does not mean it is that dog, descended from that dog, or that breed. It’s like calling every black dog you see a Labrador, even though it isn’t.

Now, I understand this is a lot to take in, but, I am going to be completely honest and not hold back with this:

True APBT are Genetically dog aggressive, it is not “All in how you raise them”, now, there are instances of non-dog aggressive Pedigree APBT, but they are the minority. Even though they are no longer bred to fight other dogs they still retain the gameness from those times.

Pit Fighters did not cull all the human aggressive dogs. Dog fighting was a money maker. One of the greatest fighting dogs in history killed his owners Nephew. [APBT people will know the dog I am on about]. Was he culled? Nope. At least not as far as I can find out.

They are not Nanny Dogs, those were Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

Pit bulls are not sunshines and daisy chains. They are working dogs, created for dog fighting. Done, Dusted, and Explained. Now, enjoy pictures of APBT.

Inspired by a recent facebook conversation I had earlier today, I noticed many people think early spay and neuter is perfectly acceptable, despite scientific studies proving it isn’t. By early spay and neuter, I mean, some people were telling a girl to spay her dog before the dog’s first heat. Luckily, very-very few vets will do that. A lot of vets wait until they have finished their first heat, which is a lot better than, for example, 10 weeks.

A comment that struck me the most was from a women and it said “I’m not sure where they got their info because it’s wrong. There’s not one vet I know of that would agree with that info.”

Now, you would expect a vet to be up to date on the best methods of Animal Health Care, similar to how you would expect a Human Doctor to know the health risks of, say, an operation on an 80 year old person. Sadly that isn’t the case, many vets push people to spay or/and neuter early and often scaremonger them with stories of Pyometra, Testicular Cancer, Aggression Issues.

Of course, if there wasn’t any research done on it I would understand why people wouldn’t think twice, but there isresearch done on it, there is anecdotal facts that back up said scientific research too, that was produced by vets and scientists.

Of early-neutered males, 10 percent were diagnosed with HD, double the occurrence in intact males. There were no cases of CCL diagnosed in intact males or females, but in early-neutered males and females the occurrences were 5 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Almost 10 percent of early-neutered males were diagnosed with LSA, 3 times more than intact males. The percentage of HSA cases in late-neutered females (about 8 percent) was 4 times more than intact and early-neutered females. There were no cases of MCT in intact females, but the occurrence was nearly 6 percent in late-neutered females. – http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0055937

So, as you can see, there are issues with Early Spay and Neuter and it is time people realised this. You cannot take a dogs hormones away and expect everything to be hunky dory. If the dog medically needs a Spay or Neuter, then of course, that is acceptable. Taking a dogs hormones away too early just because of Scaremongering, irresponsible ownership, and the owners lack of research? That isn’t right.

Shelter overpopulation is, sort of an issue (i’ll get to that in another post), backyard breeders are 110% a major issue.

Well, please welcome an Alternative to Spay and Neutering that prevents babies but keeps much needed hormones: Ovary Sparing Spay and Vasectomy!

OSS and Vasectomy is brilliant. It can be done after first heat, dog keeps it’s hormones so will grow properly, etc. Yet will not make Puppies. A Vasectomised dog can mount and tie with a bitch in heat, and no puppies will happen, vice versa too, an intact male can cover an OSS bitch and nothing would happen.

Does your dog suffer with Stubbornness? Yes? Well, actually, you may want to re-think that. It’s high time we stop using the word Stubborn when referring to dogs, of course some breeds really are harder to motivate and are more independent, however, it implies they know what you want them to do and are choosing not to. Which, of course wouldn’t happen with proper training (proper reinforcement, rate of reinforcement, etc.)

Challenging to Motivate does not and will never equal stubborn.

“My dog is just Stubborn”

“It’s in their breed standard to be stubborn!”

“It’s a breed thing”

Excuse, Excuse, Excuse. Training a dog is hard, whether you like it or not. Some are easier than others. A Malinois is easier to train than a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, for example. A lot of dogs are classed as Stubborn *Cough*Shiba*Cough* but really? Their owners have just never found the right motivator. Often people will say “My dog won’t work for toys or treats though!” Well, do you know what? There is a lot more reinforcing things out there. I know a dog who will only work for scritches behind the ear and one that will only work for a joyful happy go lucky squeal.

Stubbornness is not a thing in canines. Or at least, not as common as we make it out to be.

Lack of Training, Lack of Reinforcement, Lack of Enjoyment, Laziness… Now those are real common things!

(Used with Permission from @Mountain_Mutt! Thank you for allowing me to use this! [This picture in no way, shape or form is mine. This dog is in no way, shape or form mine.])